Thursday, February 2, 2012

5 Characteristics Your Customer Service Team Should Have

If you stay in regular contact with your clients and anticipate their problems you will see a lot less customer service issues.? Set regular reminders to check in with your clients by using a simple CRM like Base.

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Customer service is often a thankless job. Angry customers yell at service reps, and they?re often blamed for what we?ll call ?user error.? They certainly deserve our respect for a job well done.

It takes a certain type of person to withstand the sometimes grueling work that goes on in the customer service world. Let?s take a look at five must-have characteristics for good customer service.

1. Patience. Lots and Lots of Patience.

Managing one customer?s question while simultaneously responding to another via email can be enough to make most throw down their headsets and never look back. Patience, as they say, is a virtue, and one that anyone that deals with customer service issues must have.? From the technical support client who doesn?t know how to turn on the computer to the customer calling to complain (again), handling customers with care is a special and important quality to have regardless of your role.

Here are some tips for finding patience in difficult situations:

  • Take a deep breath and let it out slowly.
  • Politely put customer on hold while you regain your composure.
  • Remember that the customer?s anger isn?t directed at you personally (well, it shouldn?t be).
  • Hand the call over to your a supervisor or colleague if the customer is being abusive.

2. Expediency.

The faster you resolve a problem, the happier your client will be and the lower the cost per call will be. And while you shouldn?t rush through a customer?s problem, there should be a level of efficiency to quickly get to the root of the issue by determining the best solution.

Be sure that everyone on your team is familiar with the company?s customer service policies and automate what can be automated.? If you use customer service chat or have a customer service team or call center, have pre-written material and a detailed solutions guide accessible.

3. Assertiveness

If you enable your staff to do whatever it takes to make the customer happy, they should take on a level of assertiveness that prevents them wasting time getting approval.

Disney, for example, enables its employees to assist guests by providing solutions within a particular budget. So for example, if a guest has a nest of non-Mickey mice living in their hotel room, the customer service rep is authorized to give them one night in a mouse-free upgraded room.

Set policies for your sales staff, customer service team, and yourself.? Readily provide those solutions to make customers happy and quickly resolve problems.

4. Thirst for Improvement

We all can get the tendency to be complacent when we do the same job over and over. You want your employees to be hungry and step up their game helping customers. Do your part by offering training, resources, and incentives to help with customer service.

5. Commitment

Call centers and customer service positions are notorious for their turnover rates. It is important to keep your employees interested and passionate about your product or service.? If someone on the receiving end of a customer service call believes in their company and offerings they are going to be better at resolving problems.

Susan Payton is a writer for FutureSimple Growth University and she shares our passion for helping small businesses grow. She is also the President of Egg Marketing & Communications

Source: http://www.futuresimple.com/blog/5-characteristics-for-great-customer-service-regardless-of-your-title/

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